1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a gasketless seal, and the use of such a seal in a gasketless valve. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a gasketless seal capable of containing a highly pressurized fluid, and an improved, simple valve which utilizes the gasketless seal.
2 Description of the Relevant Art
There are known gasketless sealing arrangements and gasketless valves. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,150 discloses a gasketless rotary valve for a water conditioner. The valve disclosed in the patent is formed of plastic, and comprises a valve seat having a plurality of raised ribs on both sides thereof and sandwiched between planar surfaces of a housing plate member and a rotor assembly plate member, respectively. The valve housing, the valve seat and the rotor assembly are secured tightly together using a plurality of fasteners, such as nuts and bolts.
Although the valve disclosed in the above discussed patent functions effectively, it is relatively complex and the seal achieved between the rotor assembly and the valve housing is prone to leakage, especially if the fasteners are not tightly engaged.
The present invention has been developed to overcome the disadvantages of known gasketless sealing arrangements, particularly known gasketless valves.